Jazz Finland Live

As far as the term "award-winning" goes, here we have two of the latest "Finnish jazz album of the year" winners joining forces and doing what they do best. Duo Timo Lassy & Teppo Mäkynen visits G Livelab in January to present tunes from their debut album released by We Jazz Records (2019). Expect sounds from spiritual-tinged free playing all the way to delicious 4/4 groove hard-hitters.

"Incredible record." – Gilles Peterson / BBC Radio 6
"The two make simple sound simply divine." – 4/5 DownBeat

Open event

Rajaton jazz festival: Jazz Ballads Evening.

Anastasia Trizna - vocals
Valeri Nikitin - piano

Photo: Mikko Lampinen

Open event

Jazz vocalist Aili Ikonen and saxophonist Jukka Perko and their band performing Dusty Springfield songs, written in Finnish by Hector.

Aili Ikonen (vocals)
Jukka Perko (saxophone)
Teemu Viinikainen (acoustic guitar)
Jarmo Saari (electric guitar)

Open event

Thu 30.1. at 7.00pm, Kuopio, Ohjelmaravintola Maxim, tickets 15/10€ at the door
Promotor: Kuopio Jazz & Blues ry., www.kjb.fi 

Freshly out of Sibelius Academy with Doctor's Degree in hand, guitarist Sami Linna takes his quartet to the first Jazz Finland tour in January 28–February 7. The quartet – Linna accopanied by saxophonist Jussi Kannaste, Mikko Helevä in Hammond and American Dana Hall in drums – released their debut album on the stylish Timmion Records earlier this year.

"Take a pinch of classic Blue Note soul jazz, some stylings from the 1970's afrocentric movement, and streamed to perfection lines of a lead jazz guitar and you've put together the pieces of Sami Linna Quartet's sound. Their album on Timmion is one for the dark evenings, for the first rays of sunlight cracking through a summer mist, for the dance floors of the mind."
–Timmion Records–

Sami Linna Quartet on tour Jan 28–Feb 7, 2020

Sami Linna, guitar / Jussi Kannaste, saxophone / Mikko Helevä, Hammond B3 / Dana Hall, drums

Tue 28.1. Raahe, Raahen teatteri
Wed 29.1. Oulu, Voimala 1889
Thu 30.1. Kuopio, Maxim
Fri 31.1. Jyväskylä, Vakiopaine
Sat 1.2. Joensuu, Kerubi
Wed 5.2. Savonlinna, Kulttuurikellari
Thu 6.2. Salo, Bar Bizarre
Fri 7.2. Espoo, April Jazz Club

Jazz Finland is the leading organization for promoting jazz culture in Finland and Finnish jazz abroad. Jazz Finland produces two tours in Finland in the spring of 2020, and supports two additional tour productions.

Open event

Gianni Gagliardi playing with local jazz musicians!

Gagliardi was born In Barcelona in 1987, and is now based in Brooklyn, NY. He began to study violin and baroque/renaissance flute, switching to saxophone at 14. Two years later he moved to the Netherlands to pursue a degree in jazz performance at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. In 2009 Gagliardi studied at SUNY Purchase with Eric Alexander, Hal Galper and Arturo O’Farrill, leading to studies at Le Conservatoire National Superior de Paris. After moving to Boston to attend Berklee College, Gagliardi was awarded a presidential scholarship in 2012 to the new Berklee Valencia school as a Student/Ambassador, charged with performing for and promoting the college around the world, with appearances at the European Parliament in Brussels, the MIDEM Convention in Cannes, France and many others.

Gianni is the Director of the Barcelona Jazz Collective, a platform for rising musicians to produce and release albums, and has been invited to perform at prestigious international jazz festivals around the globe, such as The North Sea Jazz Festival, the Luxembourg Jazz Festival, Guatemala and Nicaragua Jazz Festivals and Eurojazz Festival (Mexico), as well as leading jazz venues, such as Bimhuis, Porgy & Bess Vienna, Jamboree. Gagliardi has also played in Europe, South America and USA with musicians such as John Clayton, Eric Alexander, Dick Oatts, Phillip Harper, Terell Stafford, Jorge Rossy and many others.

Gianni Gagliardi - Saxophone
Lavi Öst - Piano
Rufus Malén - Bass
Victor Nyblom - Drums

Open event